Galway are the 2022 Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor football champions after they produced a defensive masterclass at Dr Hyde Park, turning the tables on a Mayo side that beat them twice in the Connacht Championship earlier in the year.
In those two provincial series games, Mayo completely shut down Galway, restricting them to a mere 0-11 over the course of the two hours of action.
But this was a very different contest, where Galway could afford to shoot eight wides and miss several goal chances, but still rack up a winning total.
This largely stemmed from two key areas – their control of the turnover battle, particularly in their own backline, and Kyle Gilmore's impeccable restarts. Facing into the breeze in the first half, with Mayo choosing to go man for man, the Cortoon Shamrocks player was able to repeatedly pick out a colleague moving into space and put the ball exactly where it needed to go.
That gave the Tribesmen front foot ball, which they were usually able to work into a scoring position. Even if the end result wasn't necessarily a white or green flag, it meant that Mayo spent large chunks of the first half chasing the ball, when they need to try and accumulate a lead.
Consequently, Galway were by far the happier team at half-time, with a two-point lead banked at the end of 31 minutes playing into a deceptively strong wind.
Both sides struggled to settle into the game at the attacking end of the field, and three goal chances were spurned before Éanna Monaghan finally got the scoring underway with a free after six minutes.
However, while Galway missed two of the three chances, by far the best opportunity was that when Mayo’s Niall Hurley bore down on the Galway goal, only to see his shot blocked and smothered by Kyle Gilmore in the Galway goal.
After getting off the mark through a Cathal Keaveney free in the tenth minute, Mayo had the better of the next ten, and edged in front at one stage.
James Maheady led the way with three glorious points from distance, including one off each foot, but even then it wasn’t the traditional spell of suffocating Mayo dominance where the opposition is unable to get any kind of foothold.
Galway kept in touch, Fionn O’Connor tied things up with a close-range score after Rio Mortimer blocked a goal-bound shot from Colm Costello, and the next three scores all went Galway’s way, the pick of them a perfect three-kick score where Gilmore picked out Jack Lonergan, the midfielder duly fired the ball early and accurately into Stephen Curley, and the Annaghdown player split the uprights.
Mayo went nine minutes without a shot, ten minutes without a score, and badly needed the better start after half-time to energise their challenge.
Instead Shay McGlinchey and Colm Costello (twice) kicked points for Galway, the last of the three a goal chance that fizzed over David Dolan’s crossbar when a simple handpass across the goal would have left Stephen Curley with a tap in goal.
Trailing by five with a little over 20 minutes to play, the mountain that Mayo had to climb looked steep indeed, but whether it’s minor or senior, there’s something in the wiring of Mayo teams that means drama is usually guaranteed.
Seán Dean’s side duly made a surge, drawing the crowd into the game, with roughly two-thirds of the 12,789 attendance appearing to sport green and red colours and showing no hesitation in using their lungs to get involved.
Ronan Clarke kicked two sublime scores, they began to get on top at midfield, and at one stage it looked like Galway were feeling the pressure, with all 15 maroon jerseys back inside their own '45 a couple of seconds before the latter of Clarke’s points.
Crucially however, this strong spell never really told on the scoreboard as much as Mayo needed. There were the big moments, but not necessarily the payoff; such as a fantastic steal and turnover from Jack Keane that set up a Mayo attack, only for it to end with the ball creeping an inch or two too far ahead of Paul Gilmore, just when it looked as if the goal was opening up for the wing back.
Galway’s ball control held firm, their talisman and joint captain Éanna Monaghan dropped into a deeper role and while he didn’t add to his four first-half points, he played a fantastic playmaker role, linking up the play and helping to generate the chances that saw Stephen Curley, Charlie Cox and Colm Costello kick the game-clinching scores in the final quarter.
Galway: Kyle Gilmore; Vinny Gill, Ryan Flaherty Tomás Farthing; Mark Mannion, Cillian Trayers (0-01), Ross Coen; Jack Lonergan, Shay McGlinchey (0-01); Owen Morgan, Éanna Monaghan (0-04, 3f), Seán Dunne; Stephen Curley (0-02), Fionn O’Connor (0-01), Colm Costello (0-05, 2f).
Subs: Charlie Cox (0-01) for O’Connor (44), Olan Kelly for Dunne (52), Pádraig McNeela for Mannion (56), Luke Carr for Curley 59), Cian Dolan for Costello (60).
Mayo: David Dolan; Colm McHale (0-01), John McMonagle, Lorcan Silke; Liam Maloney, Rio Mortimer, Paul Gilmore; Jack Keane, Luke Feeney; James Mahedy (0-03), Dara Hurley, Diarmuid Duffy; Cathal Keaveney (0-01f), Ronan Clarke (0-04, 2f), Niall Hurley.
Subs: Oliver Armstrong for D Hurley (40), Zac Collins for Keaveney (53), Oisín Cronin for Maheady (57), Dylan Gallagher for Keane (59), Seán O’Dowd for Feeney (60).
Referee: Niall Cullen (Fermanagh).
